a brief lesson on social networking - it would seem that Felicity said something a little bit mean and a few of Charlotte's friends ticked that they liked it, or gave smiley face comments - and then it got nastier. ‘Charlotte’s ponyless.’ He sees me frown and he nods. ‘Felicity did a little sad face after, so I guess, you could say, she wasn't being nasty, but she was, Lucy – because a couple of weeks ago she wrote… ponyless, fatherless, pointless.’
The posts have been taken down he tells me, they only stay up for an hour so, normally after-school. I think of her in the house alone, dealing with whatever it is they’re saying.
‘Why hasn't she told me?’
‘She probably doesn't want to upset you, or maybe she’s embarrassed to tell you.’
‘Why would she be embarrassed?’
‘Because,’ Luke tells me, as only Luke can - utterly void of emotion, he tells me what’s been going on. ‘A lot of the posts are about you.’
I flinch with every line he delivers.
Charlotte’s mum is doing my shopping
Charlotte’s mum is buying more gin
And cake
And new knickers
Hey Charlotte was your dad’s girlfriend at the funeral? Did she say hi?
Charlotte has an ambulance on speed dial
‘It must be my neighbour who’s spreading the gossip,’ my lips tighten in spite. ‘It must be her, she’s the only one…’
‘You don't know that,’ Luke says. ‘You need to speak to Charlotte but first we need to speak to the school.’
‘We?’
He nods. ‘Ring them now, tell them we’re on our way.’
I do as told, but I get through to the snobby secretary. ‘He can see me tomorrow at nine…’ I don't want this to go on for another night, and I'm not sure if Luke will take more time away from work for another of Lucy’s messes. I wait for him to nod or shake his head but instead he takes the phone. ‘This is Charlotte Jameson’s godfather here. I've got some rather disturbing information that I'm sure the headmaster would want to be informed about, so we’re on our way now.’
‘What if they don't believe you?’ We’re pulling into the school and I look a lot better this time around, because appearances do matter apparently. Before we left I was sent upstairs by Luke to change out of my supermarket gear and put some make-up on.
I feel better for it.
I feel better and just a little stunned, when Luke turns around and smiles. ‘They’ve got no choice but to believe me, I’ve got it all on my phone. I took screen shots…’
He took pictures of it apparently; I didn’t even know that you could do that. It's like having your own private detective and not even knowing that you’d hired one. ‘You need to get with the times a bit more, Lucy.’
We go in and I'm not scared, I'm angry – furious in fact, I tell the headmaster. I tell him a few other things too – like, how dare he accuse my daughter of bullying without getting all the facts? How dare he haul my daughter into the office about something so serious without speaking with me first? Oh, I say many things. To be honest, I don't think Luke said a word, well, not till the end when he stood up and shook the red-faced headmaster’s hand. He told him that he trusted it would all be dealt with satisfactorily and that he would be keeping a very close eye on things from now on.
I did a good job with the headmaster, I really did, but there is something about a man.
Or something about this one, I think, taking a sneak peek as he drives me home.
He just deals with things.
‘I'm embarrassed,’ I admit, as we pull into my drive.
‘Don't worry about what other people think Lucy.’
‘Not about that,’ it surprises me that I actually don't care. I'm not embarrassed for me, with what they were saying, I'm just appalled for Charlotte. ‘I’m embarrassed that I had to find out from you. I don't know what's going on with my daughter.’
‘You’re dealing with a lot, Lucy. Don't waste time beating yourself up, you can't afford it. Spend that time sorting things out with Charlotte.’
‘I will.’
Adele’s, Someone Like You, is playing on the radio and her voice is so beautiful it makes me want to cry. I cry a lot to Adele actually, but I don’t cry today, I swallow tears down instead.
‘I'm sorry if you thought I was taking sides, Luke. I handled things badly.’ My cheeks